Written by: Harrison
Recorded: March – October 1980; November 1980 – February 1981
Producers: George Harrison, Ray Cooper
Released: 22 June 1992
Personnel
George Harrison: vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Neil Larsen: keyboards
Gary Brooker: synthesizer
Tom Scott: saxophone
Willie Weeks: bass guitar
Jim Keltner: drums
Ray Cooper: percussion
‘Tears Of The World’ was one of four songs left off George Harrison’s ninth studio album Somewhere In England.
The album was the first by a former Beatle to be rejected by a record company. Warners declined to release it, requesting that Harrison make it more commercial.
I think he felt sidelined by everything that was going on. It was the rise of the machine, and there was a real sea change in popular music. Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, he felt that was all at the opposite end of the spectrum and he was railing against it. I don’t think he was disillusioned, I just think he was sad about what was going on around him. ‘What am I doing? I don’t feel a part of contemporary music.’ The lyric [of ‘Blood From A Clone’] was basically anti-machine, anti-manufactured pop star song.
Behind The Locked Door, Graeme Thomson
Warners initially considered releasing the original version of the album, going so far as to creating test pressings before it was axed. Those pressings, many of which found their way into collectors’ hands, contained four songs – ‘Flying Hour’, ‘Tears Of The World’, ‘Lay His Head’, and ‘Sat Singing’ – axed from the final release.
‘Tears Of The World’ was first released on 22 June 1992, on an EP included with copies of the Genesis Publications book Songs By George Harrison 2. The other tracks were a demo of ‘Life Itself’, ‘Hottest Gong In Town’, and a live recording of ‘Hari’s On Tour (Express)’. The book and EP were limited to 2,500 copies.